Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Baseball Card Breakdown's 8th Anniversary

Made it to 8 years as a blogger. Nice. New banner for the occasion. Had been going with a text-only header for a few months, but now I've made a new header pic in the same vein as one from a few years back, spelling out the blog name with letter patch cards.


Not sure how long I'll stick with it, but I'll fly it up there for at least a while.

In today's post, I'm going to toast to 8 years of blogging by giving shout-outs to a few of my favorite blogs over that span, linking each of them up to a letter in the new header.



B is for Backstop 
[Will Venable]

Looks like Marcus has since taken all the way to the backstop offline, but back in the first few years of my blog, it was so cool to read an active card blog that focused on my hometown Padres. While I've rooted for the team basically all my life, I had sorta turned my back on them for a while there, and Marcus' blog helped reignite my fandom, getting me familiar with the current roster (such as guys like Will Venable) as well as names from the past I hadn't thought about in a long time. He inspired me to add guys like Eric Owens and Khalil Greene to my PC list, and indirectly provided the catalyst for my "Marquis Mania" project where I hoarded a crazy amount of Marquis Grissom 1990 Upper Deck rookie cards.



A is for A grand serving of nachos 
[Mike Leake]

Mike Leake makes me think of the Reds, and the Reds make me think of Nachos Grande. He's been consistently cranking out posts forever. Usually not too long, but often just a bite-sized look at a particular Barry Larkin card or a few cards from a TCDB trade. Chris seems like a really chill guy. I enjoyed getting in on some of his group breaks back in the day. He's really upped his game with them lately, though I've since sworn off group breaks (no fault of Chris') so I just watch from afar now. I love that he's also a big LEGO guy.



S is for San Jose 
[Yonder Alonso]

During his career, Yonder Alonso played for both the A's and the Padres, so let's link him up to Fuji. The Chronicles of Fuji has been a beacon of positivity for the Cardsphere for over a decade now (not even taking into account his tireless commenting on countless blogs, which I know we all appreciate). Mark gave us a scare earlier this year with talk of taking an extended break, but thankfully he seems to have found a balance where he can still crank out a few posts each month.



E is for Everybody Loves Shane 
[Shane Peterson]

The best known Shane on the cardsphere has got to be the good dude behind the Shoebox Legends blog. In recent months, the blog has been gathering cobwebs, with Shane focusing more on his YouTube channel. That's pretty cool, though I hope the blog doesn't fade away. Always neat following along with his collecting adventures, be it his buyback frankenset, various setbuilds, big Red Sox collection, or whatever else he feels like writing about. 



B is for Brew Crew 
[Bill Hall]

I'll go with Summer of '74 for this one. Matt Prigge's Brewers-centric cardblog looks like it has tapped out with just 151 posts to its credit, but it was a good one. 



A is for A-rod 
[Gaby Sanchez]

Gaby Sanchez makes me think of Gary Sanchez, who makes me think of Yankees catchers, who makes me think of Luis Torrens supercollector Zippy Zappy of Torren' Up Cards. Longtime hobby-bud of mine. Love reading his unfiltered takes on baseball, cards, and whatever else he wants to talk about. Hard to find anyone whose TTM game is as on point as his.



L is for long ago 
[Tim Melville]

Hmm, let's see. Tim Melville was drafted by the Royals, and that calls to mind View From the Skybox. Dormant since March 2015 (sadly just missing out on documenting KC's championship season), this blog had a lot of fresh, creative perspective during its 3-year run. I still hold a little grudge regarding a PWE of Gypsy Queen minis I sent the guy that never got reciprocated, but nonetheless have a soft spot in my heart for the glory days of VFTSB.



L is for lawyered 
[Jarett Dillard]

Wikipedia tells me Jarett went on to become a successful lawyer after his days on the gridiron. That calls to mind Tony L. of Off-Hiatus Baseball Cards. He burst onto the cardblog scene in 2014 with a lot of great posts, and a lot of great trades for those with Brewers cards to send. Over the years, Tony's gotten busy (lawyer stuff and whatnot) and his cache of available cards (mostly from his childhood collection) dried up, so he doesn't post or trade much anymore, effectively going back On-Hiatus, but let's hope he resumes blogging at some point.



C is for Cutch
[Daniel McCutchen]

Here's an easy card to link to a blog. Different Cutch of course, but Collecting Cutch gives readers a fascinating look into the life of a supercollector. Brian is a great guy and is always thinking up new and interesting framework for his posts, so it's not just "hey, look at this new 1/1 Andrew McCutchen I got". Plus he posts more pictures of pretty ladies than any other cardblog (especially during his annual Save Second Base fundraiser every October), so that's just another reason to keep his blog on your reading list.



A is for Area 40
[Josh Willingham]

Another no-brainer for linking a blog to the card. Wes Moore has changed course in his collecting focus several times over the years, often changing blog names and usernames along the way. But he's always been a very generous fella and it's a thrill when he gets you in his crosshairs and drops a bunch of cards on you. Who can forget his "war" with Matthew Scott years back where the two went back and forth trying to outdo each other with amazing trade packages? That was a fun stuff.



R is for roundball
[Spencer Haywood]

Seeing this is the only basketball card within the header, gotta go with the blog I think of first when it comes to the hardwood: Cardboard History. Billy is known for his comprehensiveness, thoroughly scanning and cataloging his massive collection. Sucks that he has to deal with difficult health issues, but glad he's still able to go on adventures from time to time and take his readers along for the ride with dozens of photographs.



D is for don't ever stop 
[Gavin Floyd]

Guess I'll go with Johnny's Trading Spot for this one, as I've traded with John Miller countless times, and there's been at least one Gavin Floyd card in nearly every batch of cards he's ever sent my way. I think John's got a few years on me, but I kinda think of him as a blogging brother of mine, both starting our blogs in the summer of 2013 and both still at it.


We're entering the "BREAKDOWN" part of the header now, and seeing as it's the afternoon of the 15th as I draft this and I want to hurry up and get this post published soon, the rest of these might be cranked out at "lightning round" speed.



B - Andre Brown

Brown, you say? Bleedin' Brown and Gold is (was?) a good blog. (...though, yes, I'm a homer for Padres blogs.) See also Duff's newer blog Comatoad on Cards.




R - Kevin Kouzmanoff

Right back to another great Padres blog: Padrographs. I'm lucky enough to live nearby to Rod, and my card collection is richer for it. Just got another box of cards from him (and a comic book with glow in the dark cover!) last weekend which I'll post about sometime soon.




E - Zack Segovia

E is for everybody else with a blog I've followed over the years that I wasn't able to link to a certain card this time, including by not limited to A Cracked Bat$30 a week habit2x3 Heroes30-year old CardboardA Cardboard ProblemA Penny Sleeve for your ThoughtsARPSmith's Sportscard ObsessionBaseball Cards Come to Life!Battlin' BucsBob Walk the PlankBubba's Bangin' Batch of Baseball BitsCard HemorrhageCardboard HogsCardboard JunkieCardpocalypsecards as i see themCards from the QuarryCards That Never WereChavez RaviningCincinnati Reds Baseball Card CollectorCoot Veal and the VealtonesDawg Day CardsDiamond Jestersgarvey cey russell lopesHeartbreaking Cards of Staggering GeniusHighly Subjective and Completely ArbitraryHoarding CardboardHobby Cards EuropeHot Corner CardsHoyt Wilhelm Online MuseumI need new hobbies.It's like having my own Card ShopMark's EphemeraMets Baseball Cards Like They Ought To Be!n j w vNine PocketsNothing If Not RandomPack WarPlaschke Thy Sweater Is ArgylePunkRockPaintRandom Toy ReviewsRed CardboardRekindling the Cardboard FlameRoyal Card ReviewSchmidt Happened!Sportscards From The Dollar StoreStarting NineThe 1993The Angels In Orderthe best bubbleThe Bucs Stop HereThe Card PapoyThe CollectorThe Diamond KingThe Five Tool CollectorThe Great Sports Name Hall of FameThe Junior JunkieThe Lost CollectorThe Shlabotnik ReportThe Topps ArchivesTim WallachTopps cards that never wereWax HeavenWHEN TOPPS HAD (BASE)BALLS!Wish They Still Came With BubblegumWrigley Roster JengaScribbled Ink, and of course Matt's Wonderful Blog Of Hobbies (formerly known as Sport Card Collectors).




A - Greg Halman

At first thought, I was tempted to go with another Greg here.. but it would seem wrong to have Night Owl represented by a non-Doger. So how about another blogger named Greg (aka GCA) from The Collective Mind.



K - Andy LaRoche

K, now here's a Dodgers card. What can I say about Night Owl? Papa Bear of the Cardsphere. He's a professional writer who consistently carves out the time to write interesting, thoughtful blog posts on the regular. Our little online community of collectors is undoubtedly better off for having him as a pillar of cardsphere these many years.



D - Adrián González

D is for Dimeboxes. Nick's blog is required reading, nearly going on a decade now.



O - John Skelton

Ok, I know it's a totally different team called the Cardinals, but gotta shout-out St. Louis Cardinals collector and fellow Portland resident, Kerry at Cards on Cards.



W - Kyle Skipworth

Waiting 'til Next Year like to fly the W.



N - Kyle Lobstein

Not another guy named Kyle? Too many Kyles! Lobstein lobbed the majority of his MLB pitches for Detroit, so that links him up well to my buddy Dennis at Too Many Verlanders.


And that'll wrap it up! Man, that was hard and I had to cop-out with a ton of great blogs under the "E" catch-all, but hopefully nobody feels slighted. Only so many letters, ya know? Sorry if I left anyone out. You all are awesome. Hurray for blogging about sportscards! It's been a fun 8 years being a part of it; Here's to many more!

28 comments:

  1. Happy 8th blog birthday! Yours has been a constant read! Keep up the great (and uber-creative) content.
    BTW, the new banner looks great. Must have been fun selecting the cards to go around the letters.

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  2. Congratulations, and looking forward to many more!

    I actually just got my first-ever Topps Retired autograph, which I bought off the Bay recently, which certainly made me think of you. So I'll consider it a celebration of your blogaversary!

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  3. Congrats on eight great years Gavin! That makes me think of the great eight, Alex Ovechkin (j/k, I dont have any letter patches to show off.)

    This was a bittersweet reminder of so many long-dormant blogs (and newly-dormant like Shane's) so I hope you and Night Owl and Fuji and Nick and so many others keep on posting.

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  4. Congrats on #8 (me and you both) I've got a few weeks more to go yet.

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  5. Congrats! I like the tribute to the many great blogs out there.

    I came across a pair of Christmas cards at the card show last week and I thought of picking then up for you, but they were asking way too much for them.

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  6. Happy anniversary! Very cool idea for a post and it's awesome to see all of the different blogs mentioned here. I sure miss seeing posts written by Tony L., Wes, Mr. Scott, and all of the other bloggers who have stepped away from their keyboards.

    Anyways... keep up the great writing and the production of those sweet customs! Hope to one day have the opportunity to hang out in person with you and the Portland gang.

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  7. I'm honored to be included among this very esteemed list of blogs in an extremely cool anniversary post! Happy 8, Gavin, and here's to another 12/25!

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  8. Congrats! ... I have no time to read all of this right now! (So naturally I just skimmed down to see my mention. Papa Bear? I think of myself as Papa Owl).

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  9. Congrats on the anniversary and a wonderfully thoughtful post highlighting a number of great blogs out there (plus mine, lol)!

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  10. Congrats on 8 years! I believe yours was the first card blog I ever saw, So you had an indirect but important role in Cardboard History's founding. thanks for the shoutout! All that link work you did, wow, I'm in awe. That must have taken hours to put together, no wonder you ran low on time!

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  11. Congrats Gavin on 8 years! Looks like I need to check out a few of these blogs I havent heard of

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  12. Congrats! I don't know where the time goes.

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  13. Congrats on 8! Always enjoy your posts and creativity.

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  14. Happy 8th, Gavin! The new banner looks sharp. Surrounding the letters with your retired autos was a nice touch.

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  15. Great way to celebrate your anniversary. Congratulations!

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  16. Eight years is fantastic. Congratulations on the milestone, and thank you for all the entertaining and informative posts! Here's to year nine.

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  17. Congrats on 8 years bud, here's to 8 more. And thanks for the shoutout.

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  18. Congrats on the 8 years! You've been a great read and a great trading buddy.

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  19. Happy Anniversary, and thanks for the link! You're in the league with NO and Fuji for sure. I gotta get off my duff and start posting more regularly. (And check when my anniversary is coming up...)

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  20. Love the blog (as you know). Keep up the great work, and congrats!

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  21. A very happy 8th blog-o-versary to you, my friend! Your blog has long been required reading of mine, and I'm so glad we got to meet up in-person a few years back. One of my better airport workdays.

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  22. I hope you have a great 8th blog anniversary! It's truly been a joy reading your missives and I want to thank for all the kind words, While I guess I didn't realize you were from San Diego, I may have found another Padres fan I can send some of my extra cards to. I used to live in Ocean Beach and loved the lifestyle. If you can get me your snail-mail address, I can send some goodies your way.

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  23. Happy blogiversary! Looking forward to many more years!

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  24. Congrats on 8 long years! Your blog is always one I look forward to reading. Thanks for the shoutout even though mine is dead now :)

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  25. Well done! And thanks for all the links to card blogs, some of which I wasn’t familiar with yet…!

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